Installation🔗

modctl is available as a native package for all major Linux distributions, as a precompiled binary, and as a Docker image. The recommended method is to use your distribution's package manager; it handles updates and ensures bsdtar is installed as a dependency automatically.

Packages are available for x86_64(amd64) and aarch64 (arm64).

Debian / Ubuntu🔗

1. Import the signing key

sudo curl -fsSo /usr/share/keyrings/modctl-archive-keyring.gpg \
  https://pkg.modctl.org/pubkey.gpg

2. Add the repository

sudo curl -fsSo /etc/apt/sources.list.d/modctl.sources \
  https://pkg.modctl.org/apt/modctl.sources

3. Install

sudo apt update && sudo apt install modctl

The package lists libarchive-tools as a dependency, which provides bsdtar. It will be installed automatically alongside modctl.

Fedora / RHEL / Rocky Linux / AlmaLinux🔗

1. Import the signing key

sudo rpm --import https://pkg.modctl.org/pubkey.asc

2. Add the repository

sudo curl -fsSo /etc/yum.repos.d/modctl.repo \
  https://pkg.modctl.org/rpm/modctl.repo

3. Install

sudo dnf install modctl

The package lists bsdtar as a dependency. It will be installed automatically alongside modctl.

Arch Linux🔗

modctl is available either from a custom package repository or from the AUR.

Custom repository (recommended)🔗

1. Import the signing key

curl -fsS https://pkg.modctl.org/pubkey.asc | sudo pacman-key -a -

2. Locally sign the key

sudo pacman-key --lsign-key 2AF87031171950F11C460B5AEF5F1F6026B2C9C5

The key must be locally signed because it is not part of the Arch Linux keyring.

3. Add the repository

Append the following to /etc/pacman.conf, before the [core] section:

[modctl]
Server = https://pkg.modctl.org/arch/$arch
SigLevel = Required DatabaseRequired

4. Install

sudo pacman -Sy modctl

The package lists libarchive as a dependency, which provides bsdtar. It will be installed automatically alongside modctl.

AUR🔗

If you prefer to install from the AUR, the package is available as modctl. Use your preferred AUR helper:

yay -S modctl
# or
paru -S modctl

Precompiled binary🔗

Precompiled binaries for x86_64 and aarch64 are available on the GitHub releases page. Download the archive for your architecture, extract it, and place the modctl binary somewhere on your $PATH, for example /usr/local/bin.

You will need to install bsdtar manually if it is not already present on your system:

Verifying the download🔗

Each release includes a SHA256 checksum file and a detached GPG signature. The files follow this naming convention:

• modctl_v$VERSION_$ARCH.tar.zst - the binary archive
• modctl_v$VERSION_$ARCH.tar.zst.asc - GPG signature of the binary archive
• modctl_v$VERSION.sha256 - SHA256 checksums
• modctl_v$VERSION.sha256.asc - GPG signature of the checksum file

To verify:

# Verify the checksum file signature
gpg --verify modctl_v$VERSION.sha256.asc modctl_v$VERSION.sha256

# Verify the binary archive
sha256sum --check --ignore-missing modctl_v$VERSION.sha256

# Verify the binary archive signature
gpg --verify modctl_v$VERSION_$ARCH.tar.zst.asc modctl_v$VERSION_$ARCH.tar.zst

Where $VERSION is the version that you downloaded and $ARCH is your system architecture (aarch64 or x86_64).

The signing key is available at pkg.modctl.org/pubkey.asc.

Docker🔗

A Docker image is available for environments where a native install is not practical. However, modctl needs access to your Steam library, game directories, and local data directories to function, which requires mounting several host paths into the container. For most users a native install is significantly more convenient.

If you still want to use the Docker image, it is available from the GitHub container registry at ghcr.io/mfinelli/modctl or from Docker Hub at mfinelli/modctl. See the GitHub releases or Docker Hub for available tags.

Building from source🔗

For instructions on building modctl from source, see the GitHub repository.

Once modctl is installed, verify it is working:

modctl --version

Then move on to the Quick Start guide to set up your first game and profile.